Poker is one of the most popular gambling card games, with a rich and interesting history. It is believed that the game originated in Persia and was then passed along to French settlers in New Orleans by Persian sailors. Europeans called the game “poque,” a French term derived from the German term “pochen” which means to knock. However, while the origins of poker probably lie in Europe and Persia, the game blossomed in popularity in the United States, particularly when American gambling moved from frontier towns to riverboats.
Although gambling was tolerated in the Southwestern frontier during the early 1800's, people became less tolerant by the mid nineteenth century. As tolerance diminished, ordinances were passed against gambling, and many towns expelled known gamblers. This caused many gamblers to resort to steamboats navigating the Mississippi river. Carrying heavy gambling equipment like roulette wheels was difficult aboard the steamboats, but the cards used to play poker are light weight and portable. As the popularity of poker grew, at some point the deck of cards was increased from 20 to 52 cards.
Many different poker variations were introduced in the mid nineteenth century, including draw poker, stud poker (the five-card variant), and straight poker. The ‘wild card’ was introduced in 1875, lowball and split-pot poker came up in the 1900s, and community card poker games emerged in 1925. The popularity of the game slowly spread to other countries, particularly Asia mainly due to influence of the U.S. military.
Years ago poker was played by cheats and outlaws on riverboats. Today it is a celebrated ‘sport’ played worldwide by professionals, some with a celebrity status. Modern technology has also taken things further, and poker can now be played using software programs that connect millions of players across the globe. The term ‘poker’ can now refer to video poker, a single-player game seen in casinos much like a slot machine, or to other games that use poker hand rankings. Despite all of these developments, there will always be room for other games based strongly or loosely on the game of poker.